Looking inside the Catechism:

Introduction from John Paul II

1. The Process and Spirit of Drafting the Text

...The editorial committee, for its part, assumed responsibility for
writing the text, making the emendations requested by the commission and
examining the observations of numerous theologians, exegetes and catechists,
and, above all, of the Bishops of the whole world, in order to produce
a better text. ...

... It can be said that this Catechism is the result of the collaboration
of the whole Episcopate of the Catholic Church, who generously accepted
my invitation to share responsibility for an enterprise which directly
concerns the life of the Church. ...

2. Arrangement of the Material

A catechism should faithfully and systematically present the teaching
of Sacred Scripture, the living Tradition in the Church and
the authentic Magisterium...

3. The Doctrinal Value of the Text

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, which I approved
June 25th last and the publication of which I today order by virtue of
my Apostolic Authority, is a statement of the Church’s faith and
catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic
Tradition, and the Church’s Magisterium. I declare it to be a sure norm
for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for
ecclesial communion. ...

Therefore, I ask all the Church’s Pastors and the Christian faithful
to receive this catechism... This catechism is given to them that it may
be a sure and authentic reference text for teaching catholic doctrine...
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, lastly, is offered to every
individual who asks us to give an account of the hope that is in us
(cf. 1 Pet 3:15) and who wants to know what the Catholic Church believes.

Given October 11, 1992, the thirtieth anniversary of the opening of
the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, in the fourteenth year of my Pontificate.